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Survival analysis and comparing survival curves

3 messages · R-girl, Bert Gunter, David Winsemius

#
Hei,

I have a one simple question which does not seem to be that simple as I
cannot find any solution/answer:

Is it possible to compare multiple survival curves in R with
survdiff-function when there is interaction term involved in predictor
variables (and this interaction is significant)?

Example:

survdiff(Surv(death,status)~treatment*gapsize)

R is making "problems" with it ie.e. it does not want to perform the test.
And all the examples I have found so far, may involve multiple predictor
variables but in additive format (e.g. treatment+gapsize).

If survdiff is not the way to go, are there any other solutions in order to
compare statistically the curves i.e. if they differ significantly from each
other?

I would really appreciate if someone can answer!

Cheers, Minna

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#
DEAR R-girl:
On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 8:12 AM, R-girl <jhovinen at gmail.com> wrote:
I have one simple answer. Get local statistical help. You do not
understand the meaning of an interaction.

-- Bert

  
    
#
On Feb 23, 2012, at 11:12 AM, R-girl wrote:

            
I've never had a problem with survival failing to construct an  
interaction term.
Is 'gapsize' a numeric vector rather than a factor?
Without a better description of the data layout (say using hte str()  
function) and the code you have used so far, the words "the curves",  
the indefinite pronoun "they" and the phrase "each other" will remain  
far too nebulous for further comment.
Only if "someone" can provide the information requested in the Posting  
Guide.
David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT